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How does the percent of precpitation work? Sometimes it says 30 then other times 60 percent. Thanks for your time.
Thanks,
Bart
&
What does probablitiy of precipitation refer to? Is is total area affected, or maximum instantaneous coverage?
Paul A. **********************************************************
When you are watching some our weather graphics you might come across a chance of rain on a given day and it's something like 30%. So what does that mean? Is that a 3 out of 10 chance it will rain on my BBQ? Or does that mean it's going to rain on 30% of Salt Lake?
The Probability of Precipitation or the POP is the likelihood that it will rain .01 or more in the forecast area. So there is a 30% chance it will rain .01 inch or more.
So the 30% chance DOES NOT mean that on 30 out of the past 100 years it rained on that day or that 30 % of the viewing area will see rain.
But if there's a 30% chance you are going to get rain, there's also a 70% chance you are not. Personally, as a forecaster, I don't love % chances, I'm more likely stay "scattered rain showers" and leave it at that, meaning some of you are going to get rain, and some aren't. But we all have our different styles of presenting weather information.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
